The nematode (worm) C. elegans is a leading multicellular animal model to study neuronal-basis of behavior. Worms respond to a wide range of stimuli and exhibit characteristic movement patterns. Here we describe the use of a microfluidics setup to probe neuronal activity that relies on the innate response of C. elegans to swim toward the cathode in the presence of a DC electric field (termed “electrotaxis”). Using this setup, we examined mutants affecting sensory and dopaminergic neurons and found that their electrotactic responses were defective. Such animals moved with reduced speed (35–80% slower than controls) with intermittent pauses, abnormal turning and slower body bends. A similar phenotype was observed in worms treated with neurotoxins 6-OHDA (6- hydroxy dopamine), MPTP (1-methyl 4-phenyl 1,2,3,6-tetrahydropyridine) and rotenone (20–60% slower). We also found that neurotoxin effects could be suppressed by pre-exposing worms to a known neuroprotective compound acetaminophen. Collectively, these results show that microfluidic electrotaxis can identify alterations in dopamine and amphid neuronal signaling based on swimming responses of C. elegans. Further characterization has revealed that the electrotactic swimming response is highly sensitive and reliable in detecting neuronal abnormalities. Thus, our microfluidics setup could be used to dissect neuronal function and toxin-induced neurodegeneration. Among other applications, the setup promises to facilitate genetic and chemical screenings to identify factors that mediate neuronal signaling and neuroprotection.

The diversity of neurons in the nervous system is specified by many genes, including those that encode transcription factors (TFs) and play crucial roles in coordinating gene transcription. To understand how the spatiotemporal expression of TF genes is regulated to generate neuronal diversity, we used one member of the LIM-Hox family, lin-11, as a model that is necessary for the differentiation of amphid neurons in the nematode C. elegans and a related species C. briggsae. We characterized transcriptional regulation of lin-11 and uncovered regulatory roles of two of the largest introns, intron 3 and intron 7. These introns promote lin-11 expression in non-overlapping sets of neurons. Phenotypic rescue experiments in C. elegans revealed that intron 3 is capable of restoring lin-11 function based on gene expression patterns and behavioral assays. Interestingly, intron 3-driven reporter expression showed differences in neuronal cell types between C. briggsae and C. elegans, indicating evolutionary changes in lin-11 regulation between the two species. Reciprocal transformation experiments provided further evidence consistent with functional changes in both cis and trans regulation of lin-11. To further investigate transcriptional regulation of lin-11, we dissected the intronic regions in C. elegans and identified cell-specific enhancers. These enhancers possess multiple sequence blocks that are conserved among Caenorhabditis species and possess TF binding sites. We tested the role of a subset of predicted TFs and discovered that while three of them (SKN-1, CEH-6, and CRH-1) act via the intron 3 enhancer to negatively regulate lin-11 expression in neurons, another TF (CES-1) acts positively via the intron 7 enhancer. Overall, our findings demonstrate that neuronal expression of lin-11 involves multiple TF regulators and regulatory modules some of which have diverged in Caenorhabditis nematodes.

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This data article contains multi-species alignments of the regulatory region of C. elegans LIM-HOX gene lin-11 and lists of transcription factors that are predicted to bind to lin-11 enhancers and regulate expression in amphid neurons. For further details and experimental findings please refer to the article by Amon and Gupta in Developmental Biology (S. Amon, B.P. Gupta, 2017) [1].